Girls Rock! New Orleans brings together volunteer instructors and female and female identifying kids to create an explosive showcase of talent and inspiration! From June 8th- 13th, kids learn new instruments, form bands, and attend workshops about music, art, and social justice.

Gahiji Barrow interviews members of LOUD, the Queer Youth Theater project based in New Orleans today. They discuss their upcoming performance, Pursuit of Justice, which will take place at the Mid City Theater this weekend. Also bring up topics of how queer youth interact with the police and feel about the police in New Orleans and what the group has brought to their lives.

On the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (VAW), which marks the start of the 18 Days of Activism Against VAW, women’s groups held a press conference and rally in front of the US Embassy. The coalitions announced today that they unite in focusing on the call for justice for Jennifer Laude during this 18-day campaign period which starts on November 25, and will sustain the campaign until justice is served.

A pair of reform-oriented lawmakers has expressed plans to file a critical measure that could curb hate-motivated crimes and violence directed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

PHILIPPINES: As I peered at Jennifer Laude’s serene face in the open casket, I saw the wound on her forehead that was barely concealed by the mortician’s make up. I did not see the bruises on her neck and shoulders, but a person familiar with the autopsy said they were severe.

Partido Manggagawa (PM) [Labor Party - Philippines] condemns the killing of transgender woman, Jeffrey Serdoncillo Laude a.k.a. Jennifer Laude, allegedly by a US Marine participating in the Balikatan exercise in Olongapo City 11p.m. of October 11.

President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia should not sign a new Criminal Code amendment that would increase the punishment for “aggravated homosexuality” to life in prison, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said on September 9. The measure would further add to the climate of fear for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in Gambia.

It really disturbs me that my once favorite "eco-warrior" author Derrick Jensen has turned on the trans community and is now promoting hatred against them instead of forging new allies to protect the wilderness. All that political energy directed against the trans community by Jensen et. al. is wasted, he could have used that voice to save forests from clearcutting, protect desert aquifers and many other needed battles. Now instead Jensen's "Deep Green Resistance" (DGR) is walking hand in han...

On June 9, nearly 1,000 students and community members gathered outside Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., to stand up to the notorious bigots of the Westboro Baptist Church. Wilson High was targeted by WBC because the school was celebrating LGBTQ Pride, shortly after the school’s principal, Peter Cahall, came out as a gay man.

I remember in the 1980s having to sneak into the hospital to be with my partner, lover, best friend, when he lay dying. Obviously, the hospital administration didn't consider our life-partner commitment was in any way valid. He was suffering with severe pain, clogged airways, and covered with KS lesions (Karposi Sarcoma). He was confused and alone — except for me, plus comrades and friends who were always there. Photo: A New York City march in the 1980s

On April 25, more than 50 people rallied outside the Connecticut Department of Children and Families headquarters in Hartford to demand justice for a transgender 16-year-old girl who has been held in York Correctional Center, an adult prison, since April 8. “Jane Doe,” as she is known because she is a minor, has not been charged with any crime and is being held in near-solitary conditions for 22-23 hours a day.

In an almost unprecedented move, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families is attempting to transfer a 16-year-old transgender girl (“Jane Doe”), to Manson Correctional Center, a high-security, 21-and-under male-only prison. Due in part to widespread community outrage, the DCF decision is currently being challenged in Conn. state court. The 16-year-old’s advocates point out that the transgender youth does not have any adult criminal charges and is therefore unfit for a prison ...

We are launching this video on the eve of a debate and vote by the European Union on whether to support criminilisation of clients of sex workers and the buying of sexual services. In 2012 I met and interviewed Petite Jasmine along with Pye Jakobbson from Rose Alliance of Sweden. Petite Jasmine was murdered one year later, a victim of the stigmatisation and legal discrimination that sex workers face. Dora Özer was murdered in a wave of attacks against transgender people and especially transg...

SALT LAKE CITY – The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Utah, and Strindberg & Scholnick, LLC filed a lawsuit on January 21 in Utah state court on behalf of four same-sex couples who were legally married in Utah after a federal court struck down a state ban, but before the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halted marriages from taking place while the state challenged the decision. Although the marriages were valid, the state has announced that it has placed recognition of their marria...